June 25, 2008 - Two of the greatest fighters to ever grace a videogame console spar in our latest installment of Hero Showdown (Think American Gladiators without the lame.)
Entering the arena for his first time is the barefooted "wandering warrior" himself, Street Fighter's Ryu. His opponent comes armed with katanas and a serious case of permanent stealth. Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa. That's right, kids: Ryu vs. Ryu. Will SF's champion get skewered by the Dark Dragon? Or will the Vigoor Empire's biggest threat get kickboxed into oblivion? Only you can decide, so let's do this:

June 5, 2008 - This week, Ninja Gaiden II debuts on the Xbox 360 -- just in time for a really ugly break-up between the out-spoken Team Ninja lead Tomonobu Itagaki and publisher Tecmo. There's no doubting the sheer beauty of Ninja Gaiden II on the 360, and as somebody who has been making Ryu Hayabusa run left and right for over two decades, it's been fun to watch this pretty astounding journey for the ninja extraordinaire.
There's something fascinating -- at least, for old-school gamers -- to watch the evolution of a classic character that has survived the years. The horsepower under the hood grows exponentially with each generation of hardware, and the Ninja Gaiden series has often benefited from such potent increases. I say 'often' because, as you'll see in this evolutionary gallery, that Ryu has not always been given a chance to really put his best foot forward with each advancing generation. Seriously, look at the version of Ninja Gaiden that showed up on the PC Engine (that's Turbografx-16 on these shores) in 1992. It's only a marginally improvement over the SEGA Master System edition.

January 28, 2008 - He's a quiet, philosophical man, a 21st Century ninja, a shadowy anachronism who routinely pits ancient skills against modern weaponry with absolutely brutal finesse. Common thugs, trained soldiers, armored tanks, combat cyborgs, rival ninja and all the demonic hordes his Dragon Sword can reach... nothing survives Ryu. Stealth isn't a component of the Hayabusa school of ninjitsu. Killing everything that moves, and then killing it some more is. Ryu Hayabusa is a thorough man indeed.

October 15, 2007 - Hayabusa's back. After fighting to avenge his father, destroying the demonic forces of darkness and defeating the evil lord Jacquio, Ryu Hayabusa is flipping out and killing stuff a second time. Because that's what ninja do.